


Overdue Exchange

by BeetleQueen



Category: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragonball Z
Genre: Angst, DBZ, Death, Dragonball Z - Freeform, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Rebirth, Sacrifice, trunks - Freeform, vegeta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 16:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3454619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeetleQueen/pseuds/BeetleQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Buu, Trunks and Vegeta discuss the Prince's sacrifice, as well as his past, and some other truths... Had this idea in my head for a while, and finally it's penned!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overdue Exchange

Vegeta was... Acting just plain weird.  
  
Ever since the battle against Majin Buu, Trunks had noticed a definite change in his father. The trademark scowl was close to gone. Instead his resting expression was now a wistful one.  
  
He kept asking his family how their day was, were they ok, could he help with anything.  
  
Trunks was freaking out. His mother just told him to go easy on the guy. But Trunks was his father's son - and he always had to get to the bottom of something if it nagged at him.  
  
When Trunks found Vegeta, he was simply laying with his eyes closed on one of the benches in grandma's garden. There was a butterfly perched on his nose, and Trunks stared for a moment.  
  
No. No no no. He could expect this scene of Goku, but not his badass dad.  
  
"Dad..?" Vegeta's eyes slowly opened, and he looked at his son, the butterfly deciding to leave.  
  
"Yes?" His replies were still gruff and short, and Trunks was partly relieved that that hadn't changed...  
  
"Uhh... Can we talk?"  
  
Vegeta had to resist the engrained urge to roll his eyes and reply sarcastically. _'We already **are** talking...'_ Would be the knee jerk response. "Of course." He moved to sit up, making room for Trunks to join him.  
  
"Well..." Trunks slowly sat down, placing his hands in his lap. "You're acting really weird."  
  
"I know." Vegeta tried not to huff. "Blowing yourself up makes you think."  
  
Trunks gulped slightly. They hadn't really sat down and talked about that as a family in any great depth. They all knew what had happened, and they all loved Vegeta even more now - but there was almost an unspoken rule for the subject, and they just never broached it with Vegeta.  
  
Every time Bulma wanted to, she'd almost burst into tears. The in-laws were eternally grateful, but didn't want to upset the space psycho... Well maybe that was just Mr. Briefs. His wife had mentioned it once to Vegeta, and kissed him on the cheek in thanks. Everyone in the room at the time was waiting for the ticking time bomb to blow, but Vegeta surprised everyone by returning the gesture.  
  
Which was why Trunks was so damn worried! This wasn't the dad he'd grown up with! He was used to a detached, slightly cold father figure who he knew secretly cared about him but wouldn't show it.  
  
Now that Vegeta was open with his affection, Trunks didn't know how on earth to process that.  
  
"You... You went to hell when you died." Trunks finally said.  
  
"I knew I should've hit you harder." The older man squinted. Sentimentality had kept the hit light, but in hindsight, obviously too light. Trunks had heard everything the Namekian had said.  
  
"It's not fair!" The child pouted. "You totally tried to save everyone - and how many people has Goku killed?!"  
  
"Not as many as me, boy." Vegeta warned, growing quickly tired of this conversation.  
  
"Yeah, but you'd think just killing one person would stop you getting into heaven..." Trunks pouted. "So why does he get the special treatment, and you don't?!"  
  
"I'm sure they took the amount of people he killed into consideration. But comparing it to the numbers he's saved, it's not even close." Vegeta shrugged. "For me the numbers would be reversed."  
  
"How many people _did_ you kill exactly..?" In for a penny...  
  
"I lost count after the first thousand galaxies." His face softened as his son stared blankly at him. At least it was better than looking horrified. "Do you think less of me?"  
  
"No! You had to do that!" Trunks piped up. "Mom told me about that Frieza dude."  
  
"How much did she tell you?" Vegeta's face seemed to say 'be careful what you say next', and Trunks chewed his lip.  
  
"She said you were younger than me when you had to go work for him, and... That he blew up our planet, and lied to you about it..." Trunks mumbled. "And if you didn't do what he said, then he'd probably kill you..."  
  
"Yes." Vegeta nodded.  
  
"So I was right; it wasn't your fault!"  
  
"I still had a choice." His father snapped.  
  
"Yeah, well it seems like a shitty choice to me..." Trunks huffed, waiting for a scolding for letting slip a curse word.  
  
Which didn't happen.  
  
"It _was_ a shitty choice." Vegeta finally said, much to his son's surprise. "But it was still a choice. Apparently self preservation is still a terrible excuse for mass murder."  
  
"It's not fair..." Trunks mumbled again. "It's not like you even _enjoyed_ it..."  
  
A heavy silence filled the air, and Trunks turned to look at his father.  
  
" _Right..?_ "  
  
"When you're in that kind of situation, you either put it to the back of your mind and get on with it, or let it drive you mad." Vegeta paused. "I ignored my reservations, but after decades of indiscriminately killing..." He paused. "One kill is enough to ruin the sanest person. And when you know for a fact, it's either you, or this faceless planet of people, you choose yourself. And as the years go by, you become numb to it. But after a very long time of constantly killing, your brain forces you to find fun in this, just to get you through it."  
  
"Oh..." Trunks paused. "Is that why you let that little raisin turn you evil again..? Cuz it was all you knew?"  
  
"Partly." Vegeta stared at the sky. "After a lifetime of being the bad guy, you tend to resign yourself to the role and forget your common sense."  
  
"So you just did it cuz of how everyone thinks of you? That's so dumb, dad!" Trunks gave his father a stern look.  
  
"Hn..." The cogs in Vegeta's head suddenly clicked. Trunks was right. "If you inherited any brains, it wasn't from my side..."  
  
"We all make mistakes..." Trunks finally said. Even now he knew the truth, he couldn't think less of his dad. The guy was still his hero. "Remember the time I glued my eyes shut?!"  
  
Vegeta suddenly laughed, remembering how Trunks had ran crying around the house when it happened. "Why the hell did you even do that?"  
  
"I wanted to see if my eyelid muscles were stronger than the superglue..." He chuckled, and Vegeta couldn't stop himself from snorting.  
  
What a stupid family he had... He realised now how close he'd gotten to losing them, and sat up straighter.  
  
"I'm sorry for what happened when you were a kid, dad..." Trunks then said, giving his father a sad look. He realised now that Vegeta only had a handful of years with his own dad before everything happened. And he felt bad for him, and for what he'd missed out on.  
  
"Everytime I murdered someone, I was imagining Frieza. I lost count of the times I'd decapitated Frieza. Strangled Frieza. Drowned Frieza." He crossed his arms. "I can't even remember the faces of anyone I've killed, because my mind turned them into him. I wanted revenge. And I wanted to be the one to avenge our race. And then Kakarot, that third class clown suddenly becomes a super saiyan, and all my dreams were pointless."  
  
"At least he killed him, though... Right?" Trunks smiled sheepishly. Vegeta returned the smile more surely.  
  
"You really think that?"  
  
"Uhh... Didn't he? Everyone says he did..?"  
  
"No. He didn't. He actually spared his life." Vegeta chewed his lip angrily at the thought before continuing. "I didn't manage to kill Frieza, and neither did Kakarot."  
  
"But he was killed, right..? Who did it?"  
  
"You."  
  
Trunks stared at his father. He hadn't even been born! "Dad, are you feeling OK..?"  
  
Vegeta tutted. "Yes, you fool. You remember your mother telling you about the version of you from the future, yes?" Trunks nodded. "That was the first thing you did when you arrived. We were all waiting around, wondering when Kakarot would show up. I was livid - that idiot couldn't even kill one tyrant, and now I'd been wished back to life just so I could die all over again."  
  
"That must've pissed you off..." Trunks nodded. He knew his dad was a lot more lenient with language than his mother.  
  
"Extremely... Suddenly you appeared, ascended, and then cut down Frieza's guards, Frieza, and his father - who was even more powerful than _him._ " Trunks simply stared. "I didn't even know who you were, and I **hated** you." Vegeta admitted.  
  
"Awkwaaaard..."  
  
"Yes. You hadn't even been conceived, so nobody could guess who the hell you were."  
  
"Why're you telling me this now, dad..?"  
  
"Your mother and I were trying to keep you safe. You're a boastful child, not unlike myself at your age. You'd never have been able to keep your mouth shut - and if word of it spread, no matter your age, you'd no doubt become a target."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"The lie that Kakarot defeated Frieza suited everyone. He gets the glory, and any of the fallout associated with it. If he constantly wins, makes a name for himself as the hero - every villain in the universe will be drawn to him. In short, they'll leave _you_ the hell alone."  
  
"Dad..." Trunks sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve.  
  
"After everything that's happened, I'm going to assume you're a lot more grown up now. So don't go breathing a word, you hear?"  
  
"Yes dad..!" Trunks nodded quickly. "I knew you cared..."  
  
"You sound like your mother." Vegeta tsked. "But yes, I do. We're not going fishing and camping like that clown and his spawn though, understand?" He added haughtily.  
  
"Yup!" Trunks smiled, swinging his legs back and forth. "Camping's for losers anyway..."  
  
"You're damn right it is." Vegeta nodded. They sat in silence for a while, but it was a comfortable silence.  
  
"Hey, dad..?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're the best dad ever." The child smiled, leaning his head on Vegeta's shoulder. The prince sat there, too dumbfounded to push him off. There were so many things wrong with that sentence...  
  
"OK..." He replied dumbly, not knowing what else to say. What did you even say to that..?!  
  
"Goten's real annoyed that his dad just wants to go away and train... He was gone all his life, and when everything with Buu was over, he thought he'd finally get to have a dad." Trunks smiled. "But you _never_ leave. Even when everyone's annoying. So that makes you the best." He added matter of factly.  
  
Well... That actually made sense...  
  
"So I've finally surpassed Kakarot..." Vegeta smirked.  
  
_'And in the best possible way.'_


End file.
